Electric machines and their power and control electronics are commonly packaged separately within different housings or enclosures. With this separate packaging, however, an interface is created between the two discrete enclosures that must normally be sealed from the outside environment in order to protect the various machine components within the enclosures.
In addition, many applications require cooling features for each of the separate housings. But the separate packaging can limit the options available for the cooling features and/or compromise the thermal efficiency of the cooling features depending on their location and orientation.
Further, separately packing the machine from its power and control electronics increases the number of component parts, mechanical fasteners, and assembly steps. This, in turn, can increase both time and costs associated with machine manufacture and assembly. For example, one process involves bolting the machine enclosure to the electronics enclosure. This bolted attachment, however, requires additional components and processes and also requires secondary features if the machine and electronics packages are to be sealed from the outside environment.